A Twisted Heart Beats Forever
by Biome
Summary: Does Stein truly have a heart? SteinXMarie Rated T just to be safe.


**This is my first published story so please give feedback on what I should fix, or add.**

**Enjoy! *bows***

Like any other day, Franken Stein was at his beloved computer taping away at the keys. Though the one thing unnaturally strange about it was that his screen was blank. Not a single letter showed up as he typed.

Earlier that day he thrashed through his belongings with a wide sadistic grin. He had shattered beakers and flasks, in the process of doing so he unplugged the computer unknowingly.

Now alone in his lab he was calmer, yet still influenced by the madness wavelengths. Only a gentle knock on his front door shook him from his endless rambling and typing.

"Bah, Marie's home from shopping. Well at least she found her way this time. Sometimes I wonder what crazy shit goes on in that head of hers." he muttered. 'Though I'm not sure what goes on in mine either...' he smirked a bit then quickly turned the screw in his head four times. "Click, Click, Click, Click..!" The last one slightly relieved him of the urge to break something again.

"Franken? Could you open the door? I've got my hands full." A small and strained voice called from the other side.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he choked out trying to contain the laughter threatening to drown out his voice. Stein opened the door with his usual bored expression.

"So you've finally made it home I see." he said as the madness started to calm down a bit.

"Real funny Stein."Marie said sarcastically while stepping into the lab. She gasped as she saw what had happened as she was gone. Well sure she is used to having this happen but never this chaotic before.

"What happened in here Stein!? It looks like you battled a Kishin!"she raised her voice with deep concern and agitation.

"Eh.. a stray cat got in here and I had to chase it out." he said pain lining his voice at the thought of her not believing him. His heart lurched as she stared at him for a minute, but he quickly relaxed when she smiled and walked into the kitchen.

'Jeez am I really that good at lying? No.. She must be acting.' That last thought in his head flared up his madness and kind of angered him. 'Why would she lie to me if she knew?' He reached for anything in his range to snap or shatter to keep from inflicting pain to himself or Marie. Unfortunately the only thing that was within range of his wrath was the notes on his latest experiment. He gritted his teeth and started to tear pages out ripping through the cover without a problem.

" Stein? Are you alright in there?" Marie's voice sounded from the kitchen, partnered with the sound of fresh carrots being chopped for the night's dinner.

"J-Just FINE Marie." he choked out a few giggles dissolving his speech and making his jaw hurt from clenching it so hard. For about ten minutes there was only silence, then Marie broke it as she herd him quietly giggling.

"Franken I think its best that you went to bed for a while" she said firmly with her hands on her hips. Stein growled angrily while tearing through about eight more of his precious notes.

"Marie you know that I mustn't sleep at all costs, the nightmares might cause me to go mad and hurt you." he groaned speaking matter-of-factly. Marie gently sighed and looked at him with tender care in her eyes.

'Why does she STARE at me with that... that deep emotion.' he grumbled in his head.

"I think your already there, it wont hurt to try to sleep it off before it gets worse." Marie said still annoying him with her eyes.

'WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THAT I NEED SLEEP!' he screamed so loud in his head he thought that Marie would hear it. The anger welling up in his stomach was boiling more and more with every second.

"I'll be fine J-JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" he yelled reaching his hands up to his unkempt silver hair, and kicking out at his wheeled chair that companions him everywhere. Marie looked hurt at his raised voice, and walked back into the kitchen.

'Why is this happening to me again?' he thought feeling the dreadful unknown emotion swim around in his chest, and a constricting pain close up his throat. He looked to his side and saw a three eyed black and white creature closing its hands around the same area, mimicking it. The monstrosity smiled menacingly and tightened its grip. Steins eyes widened in fear and he wanted to scream, but all he could manage to do was make choking noises.

Stein in his madness induced nightmare looked around the room with fear glistening in his eyes. He reached for his scalpel, and the madness wavelengths almost pushed him over like a gust of wind. His eyes stretched wider and the small smirk on his face stretched farther as he drove the scalpel in his hands into his abdomen. Laughter tore from his throat and he twisted it wrenching a bit, then watched the his live supply soak his shirt and lab coat. He shakily reached up for his glasses and threw them down on the ground giggling hysterically. As shards flew in all directions he noticed one sticking out of his hand and the laughter stormed at the loudest volume his lungs could manage.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Marie walked into Stein's room again to find him on the floor out cold with hand marks around his neck, and blood all round him.

"FRANKEN!" Marie yelped in fear as she rushed to his side. She picked up his crushed glasses from the floor and held her hand to her mouth. Fighting back the tears was harder than she imagined. Slow watery droplets dripped from her face and onto the war-zone of a floor. Papers lie torn and scribbled on, and glass is littered everywhere. She could barely breath at the sight of Stein with a huge wound in his stomach and a large shard of glass in his hand, lying in a pool of blood. She tried not to throw up, but failed miserably and rushed into the bathroom. After returning she saw that he was shaking slightly and his breathing was quick and the tears melted into wails of agony and soft sobbing. Marie couldn't stand seeing Stein broken and hurt. She grabbed his head in her arms and petted his hair slowly thinking of what to do with him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It was 6:30 and Spirit just finished talking to Lord Death in the Death-room about how his adorable little Maka was phone rang and he was on the couch with a bottle of ale and some cheese puffs. He mumbled to himself and walked over to the ringing device, catching his leg on the coffee table and face planting pathetically. Eventually when he got to the phone he picked it up and cleared his throat.

"Hey." he managed to say through all the rumbling he was making.

"Spirit, I need you to come over right now! It's Stein!" Marie answered, in too much of a rush to return his hello. Spirit gasped and hung up before Marie could react. Spirit ran into his room and looked around quickly for some decent pants, but ended up wearing the ones he wore the day before.

When he arrived at Steins lab, it looked even more ominous than usual and it was a bit unsettling. After knocking, he used that small amount of time before Marie would answer it to think about what would be wrong with Stein. 'Maybe he's cut himself open again...,or maybe he injected himself with the wrong needle?' Spirit shuttered, thinking about such dark thoughts didn't feel right, so he waited for a few more minutes in silence.

Finally after about ten minutes of lumbering around the front step, Marie opened the door to reveal her covered head to toe in blood.

"Marie!" Spirit gasped wide eyed."Please hurry I think he might die!" she cried grabbing him with her blood drenched hands. She led him through the lab and into Stein's dissection room. The mess on the way there was the least of his worries. On the floor in the corner of the room lie a crumpled up man blood pooling around him. As Spirit tried not to hurl he saw glass strewn all over the room and Stein's favorite scalpel next to him of course covered in the same substance as everything else.

"Is h-he ok?" is all he could say from the utter shock of seeing his old meister and friend almost dead in his own home.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Steins eyes flicked to the door and his shoulders stiffened.

"Marie?" he asked weakly clenching a hand on his abdomen.

"Yes Stein, I'm a friend too." she calmly stated not looking up from the floor as she stepped to the side. A flash of red hair was all he needed to see to know it was none other than Spirit.

"Why?" Spirit asked pain saturating his voice. That was one question Stein could not answer, he only knew that it was madness that drove him to inflicting pain to himself. He squinted and tried to focus on the silver object a few inches away from himself. His scalpel was dirty and caked over with his own blood and tissue. An ashamed look spread across his face, how could he live with himself knowing that he could let a little anger get a hold of his madness. Soon this feeling went away and was replaced with a cold dark haze. Lightly setting his head back down in the sticky substance below him, and drifted into the void.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Stein woke up to a bright light much like the one that was above his dissection table but with a less Erie feeling. It was warm. The steady beeping of a heart monitor echoed in his itch tickled his nose, so he reached his hand up to get rid of the pesky feeling, but stopped. His hand was covered with a bundle of gauze.

"Wha-" he started but was silenced with a light hand brushing the hair from his face.

"I'll get it Franken" a sweet honey-like voice came from the left of him. After they did as they promised he realized where he was, and who was with him. He was in the hospital, and Marie was probably the one helping him.

"Marie? Why am I in the hospital and not in my lab?" Stein asked getting a little agitated.

"You mauled yourself... and I thought you would die, so I brought you here to get stitches." That word, Stitches, brought excitement into his consciousness. Yes he felt that it was finally time to get a new scar to decorate his body.

"Is the creep unsleeping yet?" asked a clearly drunk Spirit. Stein couldn't resist but let a smirk stretch across his face.

"Yes he is awake, you can come in Spirit he doesn't have rabies or anything." Marie said mockingly with a matching smirk.

"I-I know buuuut I don't want him to be a mad man n kill me." he slurred slowly making his way to Stein's bedside.

"Why are you drunk Senpai?" Stein asked jokingly.

"The doctors said you would DIE Stein I cant deal with losing both of my meisters." Spirit wailed, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

Stein looked up and saw them both looking hard at him, almost questioningly. Even though Spirit was drunk he sure could be serious when he needs to be.

"Why did we find you in this condition?" Marie asked angrily though she still had passion in her voice. Yet again the dreadful question throbbed in his head again.

"I slipped into the madness because I was worried that you where gone. I needed you more than ever to help calm me down." he said looking away still shrouded by shame.

"I really need you Marie." Marie's glowing smile pulled his vision back to her. Spirit had already noticed how private this moment was so he walked out with a sleek expression on his face.

"Stein... I-I love you to much to leave you. I had a strange feeling today that helped lead me home, I wasn't confused as to where to go this time." her words trailed off as she saw Stein's stern expression.

"Marie of all people in the world you should know the most. I don't love." he stated mater-of-factly. Marie looked slightly faltered by his statement but looked up and smiled.

"Stein everyone feels love as long as they have a heart in their chest." she said cheerfully, giving him that same dreadful stare again.

"Marie my heart is cold and lifeless. Its impossible for me to ever give you the same love you give me." he sighed knowing that his words were true, and painful to the beautiful death scythe. Marie's smile did not diminish as Stein predicted, but actually grew wider. Marie gently grabbed Steins uninjured hand and placed it on his chest.

" Your heart is warmer and more alive than you think." she whispered as he faintly felt his heart beating as gentle as Marie's voice.

"See?" she said warmly kissing him on his forehead then sitting back down in her chair and continued to watch him. For hours he sat there feeling his heart steady and strong, just enjoying the way it was alive, and warm as she so nicely put it.

"I think I understand now Marie..." Stein suddenly said as he reached over ever so slowly to touch her chest.

"I love you too" he said then both of them sat there ever-locked in that position, enjoying each others company.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Later that night Spirit walked in to see Marie sleeping in the bedside chair and Stein sleeping with his hand on his chest.

'Hmm I think the lonely unfeeling scientist has finally been brought out from the shadows and into the light by his true love.' he thought smiling down at them. He looked over at the heart monitor. It wasn't as slow as before, it was at a slightly faster pace.

"I see your now in touch with your normal side, Kōhai." he whispered and sat in the chair on the other side of the room. He would wait till the lovebirds woke up in the morning to see how his friend was feeling.

**Thanks for reading! Review you wienies. :3**


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